


Goodnight Rituals

by minty_jubilee



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Yearning, oh my god they were roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-25 06:21:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21871504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minty_jubilee/pseuds/minty_jubilee
Summary: The inherent homoeroticism of having a roommate
Relationships: Beauregard Lionett/Jester Lavorre, Jester Lavorre/Beauregard Lionett
Comments: 8
Kudos: 238





	Goodnight Rituals

There were certain things Beau always looked forward to when sharing a room with Jester. 

"Which bed do you want?" she asked, even though she knew what the answer would be.

"Um," Jester hummed, the knuckle of her index finger pressed to her bottom lip. "Oh, I know! I want the window side!" 

She giddily chucked her bag on the floor, flinging herself onto the mattress. Her face sobered as she looked at Beau, shifting to that soft, almost puppy-like expression. "Unless you wanted this one?" 

Beau plonked herself down on the opposite bed, crossing her legs and leaning back on her hands. "Nah, I'm cool with this one. Means you'll get the sun in your eyes in the morning, though." 

"But I love the sunset, Beau!" she loved the way Jester said her name.  _ B-ohh.  _ It sounded so soft in her voice, the vowel rounding out like a bubble. "It's  _ beautiful."  _

_ You're beautiful,  _ Beau thought, and stopped just short of saying it. Why was she afraid to say it? She could easily play it off as  _ Haha, we're just friends! Nothing gay going on here!  _

Hell, Jester complimented girls all the time, it shouldn't matter. But that was the point, wasn't it? Jester could do that because she  _ was  _ just friends with those other girls. She didn't mean that she thought the girl was so beautiful, she wanted to kiss her and stroke her hair and hear her laugh and - 

"It's getting pretty late, don't you think?" Beau said, trying to speak louder than her thoughts. The room was getting dark, with the lamp on the bedside table between them the only light source. 

"Oh, well, I guess so!" Jester chirped, rocking back and forth gently on the bed, clearly not tired at all. "Are you sleepy?" 

"Uh, yeah, that's right." Beau faked a yawn. She wasn't actually tired, she just couldn't handle being alone in a room with Jester, feeling all those... _ feelings,  _ and knowing she couldn't do anything about it. What was  _ wrong  _ with her?! She'd roomed with Jester plenty of times, so why now was it weird? 

Because she'd finally admitted her feelings to herself. When she was pretending it wasn't real, she could just shove those feelings aside and get on with her life. But now, now they were in the front of her mind every time she looked at Jester. It hurt to feel these things, and it hurt to know Jester would never feel the same.

"Beau? Are you ok?" Jester was watching her with her head tilted to one side. God  _ damn  _ it, why did she have to be so compassionate? 

"Yeah, fine, I'm great." Beau snapped, her voice coming out sharper than she meant it to. 

"Ok, well…" Jester's voice was quieter now, and Beau mentally hit herself. "I'm going to stay up and draw for a bit, if you don't mind?" 

Beau sighed. "No...no, I don't mind. Sorry, I'm just a little…I don't know. Frustrated." 

"Oh! Do you want to hold Sprinkle for a bit?" 

Beau had almost forgotten about the crimson weasel, who Jester lifted out of the inside of her hood. He poked his head up, sniffing around the room.

Beau chuckled. “Nah, it’s fine. I don’t think he likes me much, anyway.” 

"Boo, that's not true!" But she set the squirming animal down on the bedstand anyway. Then Jester took her sketchbook and her drawing tools out of her bright pink bag and settled down on her bed, the light from the lamp reflecting off her skin and turning it red-violet. She exhaled as she flipped the cover of her book, smiling fondly at the illustrations already there. “Well, goodnight, Beau.” 

Beau felt herself deflate, sinking further into the bed. “Goodnight, Jes.” 

Beau got under the covers and turned to face the wall, scrunching her eyes shut. She knew it sounded ridiculous, but even though she wasn’t tired she was  _ exhausted.  _ She ached down to her bones, and no matter how many times they did it, beating the crap out of ungodly beings and just general pieces-of-shit wore you down eventually. But despite everything the monks had taught her, and that one time she meditated, her brain wouldn’t cooperate and slow down to the rate that her body had. 

She could hear Jester’s pencil scratching across the paper. The sound didn’t usually bother her, but tonight it grated on her ears. Every sound felt amplified, every sensation exaggerated. The blanket was too hot and too close to her, pressing down and making her skin itch. She kicked it away from her with a grunt and lay straight as a board on her back, glaring up at the ceiling. 

“You sure showed that blanket,” Jester giggled softly, holding her pencil above the page. 

Beau felt her face grow warm. She sighed and rolled over to face Jester. “Can’t sleep. It’s...too hot outside or somethin’.” 

“You’re not sick, are you? It’s like, freezing cold out there!” Jester rubbed her upper arms for effect, her voice rising playfully. 

“Yeah well, that’s ‘cause you grew up on the coast. Your ‘freezing’ is my humid.” 

“Well, I guess that’s true!” she chirped, shrugging. “You know, I’m pretty cold! Like, temperature-wise, I mean. I could put my hand on your head and cool you down like an icepack!” 

“Oh...uh, sure?” Beau wasn’t sure, not at all. “If you think it’ll help?” 

Jester swiftly put down her things and jumped up, walking towards Beau. “Come on, sit up! Just put your head in my lap and you can fall asleep!” 

Oh no. That was much too much contact. Beau’s face was already scalding hot; if she was that close to Jester, she was sure her head would just straight-up explode. “Aw, Jester, you really don’t have to do that-” 

“No, no!” she said in that stubborn voice that meant she wasn’t going to back down. “I’m taking care of you tonight, ok? You need to be well-rested for tomorrow so you can punch a bunch of guys in the jaw and knock them out!” 

Beau couldn’t help but laugh as Jester mimed punches and jabs, showing off her muscular arms and oh god she’s nice to look at. Beau knew that Jester wasn’t going to give this up, so instead Beau gave up on resisting. “When you put it like that, how can I say no?” 

Jester grinned widely and Beau sat up and shuffled forward on the bed. Jester sat on the pillow, crossing her legs. Beau slowly leant back, and then she felt Jester’s cool hands on her shoulders, pulling her gently down. Beau’s head came to rest on the folds of Jester’s skirt, her heart racing so hard that she was sure Jester would notice her entire body pulsing. 

Jester just hummed contentedly as she smoothed Beau’s hair away from her face. Even the palms of her hands were comfortingly cool, already alleviating the suffocating warmth Beau had felt just moments before. 

“How does that feel?” Jester said, her voice so soft and light it made Beau’s scalp tingle. 

“Mm. S’good.” Beau felt her eyelids drifting shut, a blissful smile sneaking its way onto her mouth. 

Jester’s hands moved up into Beau’s scalp, gently tracing their way to the crown of her head where her hair was tied back. Fingers stroked the short bristly hairs of Beau’s undercut, then went about untying her hair, teasing it out so that it flowed over Jester’s lap. Jester ran her fingers through the length of Beau’s hair, braiding and then unbraiding sections, over and over. Her fingers gently pressed into Beau’s scalp, dancing lightly around the curve of her ears and under her jaw, every now and then returning to cool Beau’s forehead. 

Beau’s nerves should have been at their highest right then, but at that point, her braid had caught up with her body and she just gave in, gave in to the feeling of being cared for. She closed her eyes. Jester was humming faintly, and even though there were no words, the sound was so distinctly  _ her.  _

Beau hadn’t planned on falling asleep; she didn’t want to make Jester stay up with her all night. Besides, her legs should have started getting numb after a while, right? 

But Jester didn’t give any sign that she wanted to stop. The slow, graceful movements of her hands and the low tones of her song were lulling Beau further and further into dreaming. There wasn’t enough of Beau’s brain left awake to worry about her feelings for Jester, or to feel like she should be keeping her distance instead of literally sleeping in her lap. In that moment, she didn’t care if Jester only saw her as a friend. Right then, all that existed was comfort, and care, and peace. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> i haven't written fanfic in about 5 years, but beaujes is literally so powerful it got me going again.


End file.
